Systems And Methods For Managing Interactions From Multiple Speech-Enabled Applications

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described for speech systems that utilize an interaction manager to manage interactions—also known as dialogues—from one or more applications. The interactions are managed properly even if multiple applications use different grammars. The interaction manager maintains an interaction list. An application wishing to utilize the speech system submits one or more interactions to the interaction manager. Interactions are normally processed in the order in which they are received. An exception to this rule is an interaction that is configured by an application to be processed immediately, which causes the interaction manager to place the interaction at the front of the interaction list of interactions. If an application has designated an interaction to interrupt a currently processing interaction, then the newly submitted application will interrupt any interaction currently being processed and, therefore, it will be processed immediately.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority to parent U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/067,519 to Stephen Falcon, filed Feb. 4, 2002,and entitled, “Systems And Methods For Managing Interactions FromMultiple Speech-Enabled Applications.”

TECHNICAL FIELD

The systems and methods described herein relate to speech systems andspeech-enabled applications that run on speech systems. Moreparticularly, the described invention relates to managing interactionsfrom multiple speech-enabled applications that utilize more than onegrammar.

BACKGROUND

Speech systems have been incorporated into many useful applications sothat users may utilize the applications without having to manuallyoperate an input device, such as a mouse or a keyboard. Personalcomputer systems (desktop, laptop, handheld, etc.) and automobilesystems are only two examples of systems, or platforms, that may includeintegrated speech recognition functions.

A single platform may have several applications executing at a giventime. For example, in an automobile computer system that utilizes speechrecognition software, there may be speech-enabled applications for radiooperation, navigational tools, climate controls, mail, etc. Personalcomputers may include word processors, spreadsheets, databases and/orother programs that utilize speech recognition. Each speech-enabledapplication has a grammar associated with it that is a set of commandsthat the application is attempting to detect at any one time.

Different applications may have different grammars. For instance, a wordprocessing speech-enabled application may use a grammar that enables itto detect the command “print.” However, an automobile speech-enabledapplication that controls a car radio would not have such a command. Onthe other hand, the car radio application may have a grammar thatenables the speech system to recognize the command “FM” to set the radioto the FM band. The word processor would not waste overhead by includingan “FM” command in its relevant grammar.

As the number of speech-enabled applications and grammars has increased,it has become increasingly problematic to run multiple speech-enabledapplications on a single platform. Although each speech-enabledapplication may have its own unique grammar, certain commands may beused in more than one grammar, e.g., “stop.” When a speech systemreceives such a command, it must be able to determine which applicationthe speaker directed the command to and which application should respondto the user.

Similarly, multiple speech-enabled applications may attempt to deliverspeech feedback simultaneously. This can result in a garbledcommunication that a user cannot understand. Such a result renders oneor more of the applications useless. Also, if speech feedback from onespeech-enabled application interrupts speech feedback from anothersimilar application, the feedback from one or both applications may notbe understandable to a user.

For example, suppose a first application asks a question of the user andawaits a response. But before the user responds to the firstapplication, a second application asks the user a question. Whichapplication will accept the user's first answer? Will one of theapplications accept an answer intended for the other application? Willeither application be able to function properly with the response(s) itreceives? With no control over specific interactions between the systemand the user, there is no certain answer to any of these questions.

One method that has been devised to handle this problem is to create a‘token’ that indicates which application has the right to execute at anygiven time. When an application is ready to execute it requests a token.When the application receives the token, the application may execute.

One of several drawbacks of such a system is that applications may crashor hang. If an application that currently holds the token crashes, thenthe system may not recover unless the system is prepared for applicationcrashes. If the application hangs, then the system may never be able toregain control. Therefore, a token system is an inadequate solution tothe problems encountered when attempting to execute multiplespeech-enabled applications.

Another problem that is encountered by speech-enabled applications isthat when a command is given to an application that is not currentlyrunning, the command simply falls on deaf ears, so to speak, and thereis no response to the command. Therefore, a user must first manually orvocally launch the application, then speak the desired command for theapplication. This means that a user must always be aware of whichapplications are running and which are not, so that the user knowswhether she must launch an application before issuing certain commands.For example, if an automobile driver wants to play “song_A.mp3” on a carradio, the driver must first issue a command or manually launch an MP3player, then command the player to play “song_A.” It would be desirableto minimize the actions required to launch an application andsubsequently issue a command.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are described for managing interactions in a speechsystem that utilizes more than one grammar from more than onespeech-enabled application. Multiple speech-enabled applicationsexecuting on a platform typically means that the platform must recognizeand prioritize different grammars. The invention described hereinaddresses the problem of managing and prioritizing different grammars ona single platform so that a user can a understand the applications andvice-versa.

In one or more implementation, a speech system interaction manager(hereinafter, an “interaction manager”) is described. An “interaction”as used herein is defined as a complete exchange between a user and aspeech system. The interaction manager manages interactions betweenmultiple speech applications and a user so that (a) it is clear to theuser which application the user is speaking to, and (b) it is clear tothe applications which application is active.

When an application wishes to utilize a speech system, the applicationsubmits an interaction to the interaction manager. The submittedinteraction is placed at the end of an interaction list containinginteractions to be processed by the speech system. The only time that aninteraction is placed anywhere other than at the end of the interactionlist is when an application indicates in the interaction that theinteraction is to be placed at the top of the interaction list, i.e.,the interaction is to be processed immediately. If this is indicated,the interaction is placed at the top of the interaction list. In oneimplementation, this indication is made by the application designating aparticular grammar to be used with the interaction that is configured tobe processed immediately. This type of grammar is referred to as aglobal grammar.

If an interaction is added to the interaction list while anotherinteraction is being processed, then the interaction waits until thecurrent interaction has concluded processing unless the applicationspecifies in the interaction that the interaction is to interrupt anyinteraction currently being processed. If this is so indicated, then thecurrent interaction is interrupted so that the interrupting interactioncan be processed. After the interrupting interaction is processed, theinterrupted interaction may be configured to pick up where it left off,start over, re-prompt somewhere in the middle of the interaction, orcancel itself. Interaction processing then proceeds normally.

An application may also indicate that an interaction is not to be addedto the interaction list if the interaction list is not empty at the timethe interaction is submitted. Such an indication may be used on aninteraction that pertains to time-sensitive data that may be stale if itis not processed immediately, but is not of an importance such that itshould interrupt another interaction.

The interaction manager keeps applications informed as to the status ofinteractions belonging to the applications. For example, the interactionmanager sends messages to applications, such as an interaction activatedmessage, an interaction interrupted message, an interactionself-destructed message, an interaction re-activated message, and aninteraction completed message.

The interaction manager keeps track of the interactions being processedby the speech system so that the speech system only processes oneinteraction at a time. In this way, the interactions are processed in anorderly manner that allows multiple applications to run concurrently onthe speech system, even if the multiple applications each use adifferent grammar. As a result, a user can better communicate with eachof the applications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of exemplary methods and arrangements ofthe present invention may be had by reference to the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system conforming to theinvention described herein.

FIG. 2 a is a diagram of an exemplary interaction.

FIG. 2 b is a diagram of an exemplary interaction.

FIG. 2 c is a diagram of an exemplary interaction.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram depicting a methodological implementation ofinteraction processing.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting a methodological implementation ofinteraction interruption.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting a methodological implementation ofinteraction chaining.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting a methodological implementation ofchained interaction interruption.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting a methodological implementation ofgrace period interruption.

FIG. 8 a is a diagram of an exemplary master grammar table.

FIG. 8 b is a diagram of an exemplary grammar table and its components.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary computing environment within whichthe present invention may be implemented.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a question control process.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an announcer control process.

FIG. 12 a is a block diagram of a command manager control.

FIG. 12 b is a representation of a command manager object interface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This invention concerns a speech system that is able to manageinteractions from multiple speech-enabled applications to facilitatemeaningful dialogue between a user and the speech system. This inventionspeech system may be applied to a continuous speech system as well as adiscrete speech system.

Furthermore, the invention may be described herein as an automobilespeech system or systems. However, the invention may also be implementedin non-automobile environments. Reference may be made to one or more ofsuch environments. Those skilled in the art will recognize the multitudeof environments in which the present invention may be implemented.

General Terms

Following is a brief description of some of the terms used herein. Someof the terms are terms of art, while others are novel and unique to thedescribed invention. Describing the terms initially will provide propercontext for the discussion of the invention, although the descriptionsare not meant to limit the scope of the terms in the event that one ormore of the descriptions conflict with how the terms are used indescribing the invention.

Grammars

As previously stated, each speech-enabled application likely has its ownspecific grammar that a speech system must recognize. There are avariety of different things that applications will want to do with theirgrammars, such as constructing new grammars, using static grammars,enable/disable rules or entire grammars, persist grammars, make thegrammars continually available, etc. The speech system described hereinexposes methods to accomplish these things and more.

Different grammars can have different attributes. A static grammar isone that will not change after being loaded and committed. A dynamicgrammar, to the contrary, is a grammar that may change after a commit.Whether a grammar is static or dynamic must be known when the grammar iscreated or registered with the speech system. Rules may also be staticor dynamic. A static rule cannot be changed after it is committed, whilea dynamic rule may be changed after it is committed. A static rule caninclude a dynamic rule as a part of the static rule.

A grammar may, at any time, be an enabled grammar or a disabled grammar.A disabled grammar is still within the speech system, but is not beinglistened for by the system. An enabled grammar may also be called anactive grammar; a disabled grammar may also be referred to as aninactive grammar.

Reference is made herein to transient and persistent grammars. Atransient grammar is a grammar that is only active while itscorresponding application is executing. When the application haltsexecution, i.e., shuts down, the grammar is removed from the speechsystem. A persistent grammar is always present in the speech system,whether the application to which the grammar belongs is present in thesystem. If an utterance is heard that belongs to a persistent grammarand the application is not running to handle it, the speech systemlaunches the application.

Furthermore, reference is made herein to global and yielding grammars. Aglobal grammar contains terms that the speech system is always listeningfor. Global grammars are used sparingly to avoid confusion betweenapplications. An example of a global grammar is a “call 9-1-1” command.A yielding grammar is active unless another grammar takes focus. Thereason that another grammar would take focus is that a conversationunrelated to the grammar becomes active and yielding grammars outsidethe conversation are disabled.

Interaction

The term “interaction” is used herein to refer to a complete exchangebetween a speech-enabled application and a user. An interaction is acontext of communication that unitizes one or more elements of adialogue exchange. For example, an application developer may want toprogram a speech-enabled application to alert a user with a tone, askthe user a question, and await a response from the user. The developerwould likely want these three events to occur sequentially, withoutinterruption from another application in order for the sequence to makesense to the user. In other words, the developer would not want thealert tone sounded and the question asked only to be interrupted at thatpoint with a communication from another application. The user may thennot know how or when to respond to the question. Therefore, with thepresent invention, the developer may include the three actions in oneinteraction that is submitted to a speech system for sequentialexecution. Only in special circumstances will an interaction beinterrupted. Interactions will be discussed in greater detail below.

Conversation

A series of related interactions may be referred to herein as a“conversation.” A conversation is intended to execute with minimalinterruptions.

Computer-Executable Instructions/Modules

The invention is illustrated in the drawings as being implemented in asuitable computing environment. Although not required, the invention isdescribed in the general context of computer-executable instructions,such as program modules, to be executed by a computing device, such as apersonal computer or a hand-held computer or electronic device.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in theart will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with othercomputer system configurations, including multi-processor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may alsobe practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Exemplary Speech System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system 100 that includes aspeech system 102 and memory 104. The computer system 100 also includesa processor 106 for executing computer instructions, a display 108, aninput/output (I/O) module 110, a speaker 112 for speech output, amicrophone 114 for speech input, and miscellaneous hardware 116typically required in a computer system 100. The computer system 100 maybe designed for use in an automobile or in a non-automobile environment,such as in a desktop computer, a handheld computer, an appliance, etc.

The speech system 100 includes a speech engine 118 having atext-to-speech (TTS) converter 120 and a speech recognizer (SR) 122. TheTTS converter 120 and the speech recognizer 122 are components typicallyfound in speech systems. The speech recognizer 122 is configured toreceive speech input from the microphone 114 and the TTS converter 120is configured to receive electronic data and convert the data intorecognizable speech that is output by the speaker 112.

The speech system 102 also includes a speech server 124 thatcommunicates with the speech engine 118 by way of a speech applicationprogramming interface (SAPI) 126. Since the speech engine 118 isseparate from the speech server 124, the speech server 124 can operatewith any number of vendor-specific speech engines via the speech API126. However, such a specific configuration is not required.

The SAPI 126 includes a vocabulary 164 that is the entire set of speechcommands recognizable by the speech system 102. It is noted that speechengine 118 may include the vocabulary 164 or a copy of the vocabulary164 that is contained in the SAPI 126. However, the present discussionassumes the vocabulary 164 is included in the SAPI 126.

Several applications may be stored in the memory 104, includingapplication_1 130 application_2 132 and application_n 134. Depending onthe components that make up the computer system 100, virtually anypractical number of applications may be stored in the memory 104 forexecution on the speech server 124. Each application 130-134 is shownincluding at least one control: Application_1 130 includes a questioncontrol 154; application_2 includes an announcer control 156; andapplication_n includes a command control 156 and a word trainer control158.

Each control 154-158 uses a specific grammar: the question control 154uses grammar_1 136; the announcer control 156 uses grammar_2 138; thecommand control 156 uses grammar_3 152; and the word trainer control 158uses grammar_4 140.

The controls 154-158 are designed to provide application developers arobust, reliable set of user-interface tools with which to buildapplications. The controls 154-158 are code modules that performrecurring functions desired by application developers. The controls154-158 decrease the programming effort required by an originalequipment manufacturer or an independent vendor to create a richapplication user interface.

The question control 154 gives an application developer an easy way tocreate various system-initiated interactions, or dialogues. Theannouncer control 155 provides a developer a simple way to deliververbal feedback to users, including short notices and long passages oftext-to-speech. The command control 156 provides a way for applicationsto specify what grammar it is interested in listening to, andcommunicates to the applications if and when a recognition occurs. Theword trainer control 158 provides an easy way to implement aspeech-oriented word-training interaction with a user. These controlswill be discussed in greater detail below.

It is noted that the speech server 126 and the applications 130-134 areseparate processes. In most modern operating systems, each process isisolated and protected from other processes. This is to prevent oneapplication from causing another application that is running to crash. Adrawback with utilizing separate processes is that it makes sharing databetween two processes difficult, which is what the speech server 126needs to do in this case. Therefore, data must be marshaled between theapplications 130-134 and the speech server 126.

There are various ways to marshal data across process boundaries and anyof those ways may be used with the present invention. A common way tomarshal data is with the use of a proxy and a stub object. A proxyresides in the application process space. As far as the proxy isconcerned, the stub object is the remote object it calls. When anapplication calls some method on a proxy object, it does so internally,which is necessary to package data passed by the application into thespeech server process space, the stub object receives the data and callsa target object in the speech server. However, it is noted that anymethod known in the art to marshal data between processes may be used.

The speech server 124 also includes an interaction manager 160 and amaster grammar table 164. The master grammar table 162 contains one ormore grammars that are registered with the speech server 124 by one ormore applications. The master grammar table 162 and the registration ofgrammars will be discussed in greater detail below, with reference toFIG. 3.

The interaction manager 160 maintains an interaction list 168 of one ormore interactions (interaction_1 170, interaction_2 172, interaction_3174, interaction_n 176) from one or more applications in a particularorder for processing by the speech server 124. As previously discussed,an interaction is a logical context used by an application tocommunicate with a user. At any given time, there can be, at most, oneactive interaction between the user and an application. The interactionmanager 160 processes the interactions 170-176 in order. Interactionscan be inserted at the front of the interaction list 168, i.e., beforeinteraction_1 170, or at the end of the interaction list 168, i.e.,interaction_n. If an interaction is inserted at the front of theinteraction list 168, the processing of interaction_1 170 will beinterrupted. In one implementation, the interrupting interaction willonly interrupt a current interaction if the interrupting interaction isconfigured to take precedence over a currently executing interaction.

The interaction manager 160 is also configured to notify theapplications 170-176 of the following transitions so that theapplications 170-176 may modify the state or content of an interactionas it is processed in the interaction list 168: interaction activated,interaction interrupted, interaction self-destructed, interactionre-activated, and interaction completed. As a result, the applications170-176 can be aware of the state of the speech system 102 at all times.

As previously noted, an interaction contains one or more elements thatrepresent a “turn” of communication. A turn is a single action taken byeither the system of the user during an interaction. For example, thesystem may announce “Fast or scenic route?” during a turn. In response,the user may answer “Fast,” which is the user's turn.

Exemplary Interactions

FIG. 2 illustrates some examples of interactions. FIG. 2 a depictsexemplary interaction_A 200. Interaction_A 200, when executed, willsound a tone, ask a question and await a response from a user.Interaction_A 200 includes three elements that each represent a turn ofcommunication; the first turn is the tone, the second turn is thequestion, and the third turn is the waiting. The first element is an EC(earcon) 210, which causes an audio file to be played. In this example,the EC 210 sounds a tone to alert a user that the speech system 102 isabout to ask the user a question. The second element is a TTS(text-to-speech) 212 element that plays a text file (i.e., speaks),which in this example, asks the user a question. The last element is anSR (speech recognition) 214 element that listens for a term included inthe vocabulary 164, FIG. 1. Processing exemplary interaction_A 200creates the desired result from the speech system 102.

FIG. 2 b depicts exemplary interaction_B 220 that also includes threeelements: an EC 222, a TTS 224 and a WT (word trainer) 226 element.Processing interaction_B 226 results in the speech system sounding atone, asking the user to state a command, and assigns the responsestated by the user to a command.

FIG. 2 c depicts exemplary interaction_C 230 that includes two elements:a TTS 232 and an EC 234. Processing interaction_C 230 results in thespeech system 102 playing a text file followed by the playing of anaudio file.

There is another type of element (not shown) that may be inserted intoan interaction to cause a delay, or time out, before the systemprocesses subsequent elements. This type of element is referred to as aNULL element. A NULL element would be inserted into an interaction toallow additional time for the interaction to be processed.

Referring now back to FIG. 1, the interaction manager 160 provides forthe ordering of interactions, including the elements (EC, TTS, WT, NULL,SR) discussed above. This prevents more than one application fromaddressing the user simultaneously. The interaction manager 160processes the interactions 170-176 in the interaction list 168 in theorder in which the interactions are submitted to the interaction manager160 (i.e., on a first-in-first-out basis). An exception to this is thatan application is provided the ability to submit an interaction directlyto the beginning of the interaction list 168 in situations where theapplication considers the interaction a high priority.

Interaction Management: Methodological Implementation

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram depicting a way in which the interactionmanager 168 functions to manage the interactions 170-176 in theinteraction list 168. In the discussion of FIG. 3 and the followingfigures, continuing reference will be made to the features and referencenumerals contained in FIG. 1.

At block 300, interaction_A 170 is active, while interaction_B 172 andinteraction_C 174 wait in the interaction list 168 to be processed. Atblock 302, interaction_n 176 is added to the end of the interaction list168. Interaction_A 170 continues processing at block 304 (“No” branch,block 306) until it concludes. Then, interaction_B 172 becomes active,i.e., begins processing at block 308 (“Yes” branch, block 306).

Interruption occurs when an application places an interaction at thebeginning of the interaction list 168 without regard to an interactionalready active there. When an interruption occurs, the activeinteraction is deactivated, and the interrupting interaction isactivated.

Interaction Interruption: Methodological Implementation

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting an interaction interruption. On theleft side of the figure, a current state of the interaction list 168 isshown corresponding to the blocks contained in the flow diagram. Atblock 400, interaction_A 170 is active while interaction_B 172 andinteraction_C 174 are inactive and waiting in the interaction list 168to be processed. While interaction_A 170 is executing, interaction_n 176is submitted by one of the speech-enabled applications 130-134 (block402). The submitting application wants interaction_n 176 to be processedimmediately without regard to other interactions in the interaction list168, so an interruption flag is set in interaction_n 176 that tells theinteraction manager 160 to process interaction_n 176 right away.

Interaction_n 176 is then processed at block 406 (“No” branch, block404) until it has completed, i.e., actions related to any and allelements contained in interaction_n 176 have been performed. Only wheninteraction_n 176 has completed processing (“Yes” branch, block 404),does interaction_A 170 have the capability to process again.

However, interactions submitted to the interaction list 168 have aself-destruct option that, when used, terminates the interaction in theevent that the interaction is interrupted In some cases, an interactionmay need to self-destruct due to internal failure. In such cases, thesituation is treated the same as a normal self-destruction.

At block 408, it is determined whether interaction_A 170 has set aself-destruct flag that indicates the interaction should self-destructupon interruption. If the self-destruct flag (not shown) is set (“Yes”branch, block 408), interaction_A 170 terminates (block 410). If theself-destruction flag is not set (“No” branch, block 408), theninteraction_A 170 finishes processing at block 412.

Interactions do not have an inherent “priority.” The applications onlyhave an absolute ability to place an interaction at the front of theinteraction list 168. Such a placement results in interruption of acurrent interaction being processed.

In another implementation, not shown, an interrupting interaction willnot be processed until a current interaction has concluded if thecurrent interaction will conclude in a pre-determined period of time. Ifthe current interaction will take a longer amount of time than thepre-determined time to conclude, it is interrupted as described above.

For example, suppose that an interrupting interaction will onlyinterrupt a current interaction if the current interaction will notcomplete within three seconds. If a driver is just completing a longinteraction that has taken thirty seconds to process but will concludein two seconds, it may be desirable to let the interaction finish beforeinterrupting with, say, an engine overheating announcement. If thecurrent interaction is not self-destructing, the driver may have toendure another thirty-two seconds of interaction that he doesn't want tohear if the current interaction is repeated after the overheatingannouncement concludes. This would become even more irritable if anotherengine overheating announcement interrupted the current interactionagain and the current interaction repeated again.

Interaction Chaining: Methodological Interaction

Interactions may also be “chained” together by speech-enabledapplications using the speech server 124. An application may want acertain interaction to establish a chain of interactions thatconstitutes a conversation. When this is the case, when an interactionconcludes processing, the speech server 124 will wait a pre-determinedgrace period, or time out, before processing the next interaction in theinteraction list 168. During the grace period, the application maysubmit a subsequent interaction.

An example of when interaction chaining may be used is when anautomobile navigation system queries a driver for a destination. Thenavigation application may submit an interaction that asks for adestination state. If the state is submitted, the application may thensubmit an interaction that asks for a destination city. If the driversubmits the city, the application may then submit an interaction thatasks for the destination address.

It is easy to understand why a navigation application would not wantthese interactions broken up. If the interactions are separated, thedriver or the speech system 124 may become confused as to where theother is in the dialogue.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting the methodology of interactionchaining. Similar to FIG. 4, a current state of the interaction list 168is shown at each stage of the flow diagram. It is noted that, for thisexample, one of the applications 130-134 submits a conversation to beprocessed. The conversation consists of interaction_A 170 andinteraction_n 176.

At block 500, interaction_A 170 is active while interaction_B 172 andinteraction_C 174 are inactive and waiting in the interaction list 168to be processed. After interaction_A 170 concludes processing at block502, the interaction manager 160 waits for the pre-determined graceperiod before moving on to processing interaction_B 172 (block 504).

At block 606, the application that submitted interaction_A 170 submitsinteraction_n 176 to be processed to complete the conversation. Thesubmission of interaction_n 176 occurs before the grace period hasexpired. If interaction_n 176 is not submitted before the grace periodexpires, interaction_B 172 will begin processing.

When interaction_n 176 is submitted before the grace period expires(“Yes” branch, block 506), interaction_n 176 is processed immediately atblock 508. There are no additional interactions to be processed afterinteraction_n 176 has completed processing (“No” branch, block 506), sointeraction_B 172 begins processing at block 510. The desired result isachieved, because the complete conversation (interaction_A 170 andinteraction_n 176) was processed without separating the interactions.

Although it is not typically desired, chained interactions may beinterrupted by another application. If an application submits aninteraction that is flagged to be processed immediately, thatinteraction will be placed at the front of the interaction list 168,even if doing so will interrupt a conversation. This is one reason thatuse of the ‘process immediately’ option should be used sparingly byapplications. An example of when the ‘process immediately’ option may beused is when an automobile engine is overheating. It is probablydesirable to interrupt any interactions being processed to tell thedriver of the situation since the situation requires immediateattention.

Chained Interaction Interruption: Methodological Implementation

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting the process of interrupting a chainedinteraction. Once again, a current state of the interaction list 168 isshown corresponding to each portion of the flow diagram. Also, it isassumed that an application wants to process a conversation consistingof interaction_A 170 and interaction_n 176.

At block 600, interaction_A 170 is active while interaction_B 172 andinteraction_C 174 are inactive and waiting in the interaction list 168to be processed. When interaction_A 170 concludes processing at block702, a grace period is established at block 604.

If no interaction is submitted by the same application (“No” branch,block 606), then interaction_B 172 is processed at block 608. However,in this example, interaction_n 176 is submitted before the grace periodexpires (“Yes” branch, block 606). Therefore, interaction_n 176 beginsprocessing at block 610. At block 612, interaction_m 198 is submittedand is flagged to be processed immediately, so it begins processing atblock 614. Interaction_m 198 continues to be processed until it iscompleted (“No” branch, block 616). When interaction_m 198 has concluded(“Yes” branch, block 616), the interaction manager 160 determines ifinteraction_n 176 (which was interrupted) is set to self-destruct in theevent that it is interrupted. If interaction_n 176 is to self-destruct(“Yes” branch, block 618), then interaction_B 172 begins to be processedat block 608. If interaction_n 176 does not self-destruct (“No” branch,block 618), then interaction_n 176 finishes processing at block 620.

Grace Period Interruption: Methodological Implementation

Interruptions may also occur during a grace period, because the graceperiod does not preclude any application from interrupting. FIG. 7 is aflow diagram that depicts the process that takes place when anapplication submits an interrupting interaction during a grace period.As before, a current state of the interaction list 168 is showncorresponding to the blocks of the flow diagram.

At block 700, interaction_A 170 is active while interaction_B 172 andinteraction_C 174 are inactive and waiting in the interaction list 168to be processed. When interaction_A 170 concludes processing at block702, a grace period is established at block 704.

Before the grace period has timed out, interaction_n 176 interrupts andis placed at the front of the interaction list 168 (block 708). It isnoted that interaction_n 176 is not a part of the conversation thatbegan with interaction_A 170. Interaction_n 176 is processed at block708 for as long as the interaction needs to run (“No” branch, block710). Only when interaction_n 176 has concluded processing (“Yes”branch, block 710) will interaction_B 172—the second interaction of theconversation—be processed (block 712).

Do Not Add Interaction to Non-Empty List

An application may also indicate that an interaction is not to be addedto the interaction list if the interaction list is not empty at the timethe interaction is submitted. One scenario in which this might bedesirable is in the event that an application included a verbal clockthat announced a current time every minute. If, during the time wherethe minute would normally be announced, another application was speakingto the user, the announcement interaction would not be added to theinteraction list, because the announcement might be out of date by thetime it is processed.

Another scenario might be a navigation application that announces acurrent location, block by block, as one drives, e.g., “You are on1^(st) and Main” . . . “You are on 2^(nd) and Main,” etc. It would notbe desirable to add such interactions to the interaction list if thedriver were speaking to another application.

Exemplary Grammar(s) & Grammar Attributes

The interaction manager 160 must also use specific attributes of eachgrammar that it processes to process grammar interactions correctly.When the speech system 102 is initially booted, any applications thatare present at startup are registered with the master grammar table 162(whether running or not) so that the speech system 102 is aware of eachgrammar that may possibly be active. Additionally, if an applicationlaunches or is added while the speech system 102 is running, theapplication will register its grammar in the master grammar table 162.

FIG. 8 a is an illustration of a master grammar table 800 similar to themaster grammar table 162 shown in FIG. 1. The master grammar table 800is a table of grammar tables, there being one grammar table for eachgrammar available to the system.

As shown in FIG. 8 a, a grammar table 802 for grammar_1 136 is includedin the master grammar table 800. Similarly, a grammar table 804 forgrammar_2 138, a grammar table 806 for grammar_3 140 and a grammar table808 for grammar_4 152 are included in the master grammar table 800. Itis noted that practically any number of grammar tables may be stored inthe master grammar table 800 between grammar table 802 and grammar table806.

FIG. 8 b is a more detailed illustration of a grammar table 810 similarto the grammar tables 802-806 shown in FIG. 8 a. Grammar table 810includes several members: a grammar identifier 820; an executablecommand 822; a global flag 826; a persistent flag 828; an active flag830; and a static flag 832. Each of the members 820-832 included in thegrammar table 810 specifies an attribute of a grammar associated withthe grammar table 810.

The grammar identifier 820 is a value that is uniquely associated with agrammar that corresponds to the grammar table 810. The grammaridentifier 820 is used with interactions to identify a grammar that isassociated with the grammar identifier. Including the grammar identifier820 with an interaction solves a problem of latency that is inherent inthe speech system 102. After an application submits an interaction thatis placed in the interaction list 168 of the interaction manager 160,the application must wait until the interaction reaches the front of theinteraction list 168 before it is processed. When the interactionfinally reaches the front of the interaction list 168, the speech server124 immediately knows which grammar from the master grammar table 162 isassociated with and, therefore used with, the interaction. If thegrammar identifier 820 were not included in the interaction, the speechserver 124 would first have to notify the application that theinteraction submitted by the application is about to be processed. Then,the speech server 124 would have to wait for the application to tell itwhich grammar to utilize. Since the grammar identifier 820 is includedwith a submitted interaction, the speech server can begin processing theinteraction immediately.

The executable command 822 is a command (including a path if necessary)that may be used to launch an application associated with the grammartable 820. This allows the speech server 124 to launch an applicationwith the executable command 822 even though the correspondingapplication is not loaded into the system. If the speech server 124receives an indication that a recognition occurs for a particulargrammar, the speech server 124 passes the recognition to an applicationthat has registered the grammar if such an application is running. If,however, no application using the identified grammar is running, thespeech server 124 launches the application and passes the recognition tothe application. This solves the problem of having to first launch anapplication manually before it may receive a command.

The Speech

For example, suppose an automobile driver is driving down the road whenshe decides she wants to play an MP3 file by, say, David Bowie, on theautomobile radio. Assume for this example, that the executable command822 is a typical path such as “\win\ . . . \mp3.exe” and that therecognition term 824 is “play mp3.”

Instead of having to manually activate an MP3 player and then command itto “play David Bowie,” the driver simply commands the system to “playMP3 David Bowie.” Even though the MP3 player may not be running, thespeech server 124 will recognize the command “play MP3” and execute theexecutable command 822 to start the MP3 player. The grammar associatedwith the MP3 player (not shown) will recognize “David Bowie” and playthe desired selection that is associated with that command.

The global flag 826 is a value that, when set, indicates that thegrammar associated with the grammar table 810 is a global grammar thatmay not be interrupted by another application or the speech system 102(but only the same application). If the global flag 826 is not set, thenthe grammar is a yielding grammar that can be interrupted by otherapplications or by the speech system 102. As will be discussed ingreater detail below, a global grammar is always active, although partsof it may be deactivated by the application to which it corresponds.

It is noted that the global flag 826 may be implemented as a yieldingflag (not shown) which, when set, indicates that the grammar is not aglobal grammar The logic described for utilizing the global flag 826would, in that case, simply be reversed.

The persistent flag 828 is a value that, when set, indicates that thegrammar associated with the grammar table 810 is persistent and nottransient. A persistent grammar is a grammar that is loaded by defaultwhen the speech system 102 is running, irrespective of the run state ofits corresponding application. If the persistent flag 828 is set, thenthe grammar associated with the grammar table should not be removed fromthe master grammar table 800.

The active flag 830 is a value that, when set, indicates that thegrammar associated with the grammar table 810 is currently active. Whena grammar is active, the speech recognitions system 102 actively listensfor the commands included in the grammar. When an interaction issubmitted to the interaction manager 160, the interaction manager 160indicates to the speech server 124 that other grammars should yield to acertain grammar if applicable. The speech server 124 sets the activeflag 830 to a value that indicates the grammar associated with thegrammar table 810 is active. Simultaneously, the interaction manager 160will clear the active flag 830 for each yielding grammar in the mastergrammar table 162. As a result, the set of commands that the speechsystem 102 listens for is reduced.

When the yielding grammars are de-activated, i.e., the active flags arecleared, any grammar that is global (i.e., the global flag 826 is set)remains active. This is because a global grammar is always active.Therefore, at any given time that an application is executing, thespeech system 102 is listening for all global grammars in the mastergrammar table 800 and one yielding grammar that is currently active(i.e., is associated with the application that is currently executing)in the master grammar table 800. If no application is currentlyexecuting, the speech system 102 listens for all grammars, whetherglobal or yielding.

In one implementation, the speech server 124 does not de-activate allyielding grammars other than a grammar associated with a currentlyexecuting application unless an interaction in the interaction list 168includes a method that informs the speech server 124 that all otheryielding grammars should be de-activated. When the interaction manager160 identifies such a method, the interaction manager 160 sends amessage to the speech server 124 to de-activate all other yieldinggrammars in the master grammar table 162.

Finally, the static flag 832 is a value that, when set, indicates thatthe grammar associated with the grammar table 810 is a static grammarand, therefore, will not change after it is registered in the mastergrammar table 162.

Miscellaneous Functional Scenarios

The functional scenarios that follow are not discussed in detail withrespect to the speech system 102, but may also be implemented with thefeatures described above. The functional scenarios merely require thatthe interaction manager 160 be configured to handle the scenarios.

Push-To-Talk

Push-to-talk (PTT) is used to indicate that a command from the user isimminent, which allows a user to initiate a command. For example, a usermay PTT and say “lock the doors” to actuate a vehicle's door locks. Apush-to-talk (PTT) event instantiated by a user interrupts any currentinteraction.

PTT may also be used to provide a response to a system-initiatedinteraction. For example, if a navigation application asks “Fast orscenic route,” the user pushes push-to-talk and answers “fast” or“scenic.”

Barge-In

The speech server 124 may also be configured to allow a user to “bargein” with a response. For example, if a navigation application asks “Fastor scenic route,” the user may interrupt—without PTT—and answer “fast”or “scenic.”

Immediate Response to User Command

The speech server 124 may be configured to provide an immediate responseto a user command. For example, while an automobile system is announcinga driving instruction to a driver, the driver commands the system to“disconnect.” The speech server 124 either disconnects immediately orconfirms the disconnect command by stating “OK to disconnect”,interrupting the original driving instruction.

Application-Aborted Interaction

The applications 170-176 may also abort an interaction in certaincircumstances. For example, a navigation application needs to tell adriver that a point of interest is drawing near, but other applicationsare currently talking to the driver. By the time the other applicationshave concluded, the point of interest is passed. The navigationapplication aborts the announcement interaction before it begins. If thepoint of interest has not been passed, the announcement is made,delaying only until the other applications have concluded.

Interaction-Specific Grammar

The speech server 124 may also de-activate some grammars and leaveactive an interaction-specific grammar. For example, a navigationapplication asks a driver “fast or scenic route.” Since the interactionis expecting a specific reply for a specific grammar, the specificgrammar is activated (or remains active) to give the words “fast” and“scenic” priority over other grammars. This reduces the overheadrequired to process the driver's response, since the speech server 124does not have to listen for as many terms.

Enhanced Prompt After Interruption

The speech server 124 may also be configured to enhance a prompt duringan interrupted conversation. If, for example, a navigation applicationasks for the driver's destination by stating first “please say thestate.” The driver responds with the destination state. The navigationapplication then asks “please say the city.” However, during theannouncement or before the driver answers with the destination city, thequestion is interrupted with an important announcement. After theannouncement concludes, the original conversation resumes. To make upfor the lost context, the speech server 124 is configured to revise thequestion to “for your destination, please say the city.” By re-focusingthe driver on the navigation application conversation, the driver isless likely to be confused about what the system is saying.

Speech Controls

The speech controls 154-158 are provided in the speech server 124 toprovide timesaving tools to developers who create applications to runwith the speech server 124. The speech controls 154-158 arecomputer-executable code modules that provide canned functions fordevelopers to use for common interactions utilized in speech-enabledapplications, thereby saving the developers the time and effort requiredto code the interaction for each use.

Question Control

The question control 154 gives an application developer an easy way tocreate various modal, system-initiated interactions, or dialogues. Suchinteractions are used to obtain information from a user by asking theuser a question. The following scenarios exemplify common uses of thequestion control to obtain desirable characteristics.

User Interface Consistency: A user tries an in-car computer system inhis friend's car. He then goes out to shop for a new car. He noticesthat although other systems sound a little different, working with theirspeech user interface dialogues is just the same.

Application Compatibility: A user buys a full-featured navigation systemsoftware package for her car computer She then buys a new car of adifferent make. She is still able to install her navigation software inher new car and it works the same as it did in her old car.

Hardware/Software Compatibility: A developer can design a unique speechhardware and/or software subsystem to work in conjunction with thequestion control without compromising application compatibility or userinterface consistency.

The question control allows flexible programming so that a variety ofquestion scenarios can be implemented. For example, the question controlmay be used to ask a driver a simple question that may be answered “yes”or “no”, or a more complex question such as “fast or scenic route” andreceive “fast” or “scenic” as appropriate answers.

The question control also allows greater flexibility by allowing the useof dynamic grammars. A question control has a grammar associated withit. In the above examples, the grammar may only consist of “yes” and“no” or “fast” or “scenic.” The question control can be configured by adeveloper or OEM to standardize behavior of certain types of questionsthat can't be provided with a simple list. For example, a hierarchicalgrammar such as a time or date grammar may be associated with a questioncontrol. Such types of grammars involve too many list choices topractically list for a user.

The question control may also be used to provide an interruptingquestion. For example, while a system is reading a news story via TTS, acar application is asks “<ding>—Your gas tank is close to empty; do youwant instructions to the nearest gas station?” Similarly, a questionprogrammed with the question control may be interrupted. For example,while an e-mail application is asking “You have mail; do you want toread it now?” a car application announces, “<ding>—Your engine isoverheating.”

Table 1 lists question control properties and types. Discussion follows.TABLE 1 Question Control Properties PROPERTY TYPE Type EnumerationInterrupting Boolean Prompt String Prompt Verbose String Earcon ModeEnumeration App-Provided Grammar Grammar List Choices Boolean SelectionFeedback Enumeration

TYPE PROPERTY—The question control supports a Type property that can beused to determine the behavioral or content characteristics of theapplication using the question control. The Type property ultimatelydetermines properties used in defining the application's behavior.

INTERRUPTING PROPERTY—The Interrupting property determines whether theapplication will interrupt other interactions in the interaction list168 of the interaction manager 160. If the Interrupting property valueis true, then the application (i.e., the question created with thequestion control) interrupts any other interaction in the interactionlist 168. If the Interrupting property is false, then the applicationdoes not interrupt other interactions, but places its interactions atthe end of the interaction list 168.

PROMPT PROPERTY—The question control is able to verbally prompt a userin order to solicit a response. The Prompt property contains what isannounced when the application/question is started. The Prompt propertyvalue is interpreted according to the value of a PromptType property,which is text-to-speech or pre-recorded. If the prompt is TTS, then theprompt announces the TTS string. If the prompt is prerecorded, then theprompt announces the contents of a file that contains the recording.

PROMPT VERBOSE PROPERTY—The Prompt Verbose property is a prompt that aninteraction plays if the application/question is re-activated after itis interrupted. This property may be NULL and, if so, the interactionplays whatever is specified by the Prompt property (the prompt initiallystated at the beginning of the interaction (i.e., application/question).Similar to the Prompt property, the Prompt Verbose property includes aPromptType that may be a TTS string or a string stored in a file.

EARCON MODE PROPERTY—The Earcon Mode property determines if the questioncontrol will play an audio file when the question control is activatedor re-activated. The audio file played is determined by a currentlyselected Type property, The Type property may be “Always,” “AfterInterruption” or “Never.”

If the Type property is “Always,” then the audio file always plays onactivation or re-activation. For example, if the audio file is a “ding”then the “ding” will be played when the system initiates a soleinteraction or a first interaction in a conversation.

If the Type property is “After Interruption,” then the audio file isonly played on re-activation. For example, if a car system asks a user“Fast or scenic route” after first being interrupted by a globalannouncement, the audio file (i.e., “ding”) sounds before the questionrepeats after the interruption.

If the Type property is “Never,” then the audio file is never played.The application may modify the Type property between “Always” and“Never.” The “Never” Type property may be set by an application when theapplication has a special need not to play the audio file.

APPLICATION-PROVIDED GRAMMAR—An application can provide the questioncontrol with a list of options from which the user may choose. For eachoption offered, the application may provide one or more phrases whoserecognition constitutes that choice. Any choices added are in additionto any grammars implemented in the question control. For example, anavigation application may provide a list having two options, “fast” and“scenic.” If the words “fast” and “scenic” are not already included inan active grammar, then they are automatically added.

In one implementation, the question control provides a ‘spoken choice’feature. The spoken choice feature may be used when a question isconfigured to have two or more possible answers for one answer choice.For example, a question may ask “What is the current season?” Theanswers may be “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.” In addition, theword “Fall” may be used instead of “Autumn.” The question control may beconfigured to respond to a user inquiry as to possible answers asincluding either “Autumn” or “Fall.” As a result, the list choicesprovided to a user would be “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter,” or“Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.”

Another user for the spoken choice feature is for speech systems thatmay mispronounce one or more words. For example, many speech systemswill mispronounce Spokane, Washington as having a long “a” sound, sincethat is how phonetics rules dictate (instead of the correct short “a”sound). If a speech system is to announce the word “Spokane” to a user,the question control (or another control) can be programmed to play adesignated audio file that correctly pronounces Sp o-kan instead ofusing a standard TTS. In another implementation, the correctpronunciation may be specified as a spoken choice string, as describedabove.

The application's various grammars are activated in the systemimmediately upon starting the control. This provides for the user'sability to barge in (using push-to-talk) and respond to the questioncontrol before it is finished.

LIST CHOICES PROPERTY—The List Choices property determines whether thequestion control will automatically TTS the list of valid choices to auser after playing the prompt. This option is particularly useful whenthe user is likely to be unaware of the valid responses. For example, anavigation application may ask a driver who has just entered adestination “Which route would you like to take, fast or scenic?”

SELECTION FEEDBACK PROPERTY—The Selection Feedback property determinesif the question control will play feedback automatically when the useranswers one of the application-provided or system-provided options thatare enumerated by the List Choices property. If the Selection Feedbackproperty has a value of “None,” no feedback is played when the usermakes a choice. If the Selection Feedback property has a value of“Earcon,” then a designated satisfaction earcon is played when the usermakes a choice. If the Selection Feedback property has a value of “EchoChoice” value, then a TTS of the user's choice is played when the usermakes a choice.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram depicting a question control process. Thequestion control process depicted in FIG. 10 is only one way in whichthe question control may be implemented.

At block 1000, the question control is launched. If there is an earconto be played to indicate a question prompt is about to be asked (“Yes”branch, block 1002), then the earcon is played at block 1004. Otherwise,no earcon is played (“No” branch, block 1002). The question prompt isthen played at block 1008.

The choices with which the user may respond to the question prompt maybe announced for the user at block 1010 (“Yes” branch, block 1008). Butthis may not be desirable and, therefore, the play list choices blockmay be skipped (“No” branch, block 1008.

Just as an earcon may be played to alert the user that a question promptif forthcoming, an earcon may also be played after the question (block1014) prompt to indicate to the user that the system is ready for theuser's answer (“Yes” branch, block 1012). If this is not desirable, theapplication may be programmed so that no such earcon is played (“No”branch, block 1012).

Blocks 1016-1026 represent the possible user responses to the questionprompt (block 1008). At block 1016, the user may answer “What can Isay?” (“Yes” branch, block 1016) indicating that the user desires tohear the possible responses to the question prompt. Control of theprocess then returns to block is 1010, where the play list choice promptis repeated to the user.

If the user's response is to repeat the question prompt (“Yes” branch,block 1018), then control of the process returns to block 1006, wherethe question prompt is repeated to the user. If the user's response isambiguous, i.e., it is a response that the system does not understand(“Yes” branch, block 1020), then the system TTS's “Answer is ambiguous”at block 1021. Control of the process returns to block 1012 to receive anew answer from the user.

If the question control receives a valid response from the user (“Yes”branch, block 1022), then feedback may be returned to the user to verifythat the user has returned a valid response. If there is no feedback(“None” branch, block 1034), then the result, i.e., the user's choice,is returned by the question control at block 1038. If the feedback is anearcon to indicate a valid response (“EC” branch, block 1034), then theearcon is played at block 1036 and the result is returned to theapplication at block 1038. If the feedback is to play TTS of the user'schoice (“Echo” branch, block 1034), then the user's response is TTS'd tothe user at block 1040 and the response is returned by the questioncontrol to the application at block 1038.

In one implementation of the question control described herein, a usermay have an option to cancel a question process. If the user's responseto the question prompt is to cancel (“Yes” branch, block 1024), and ifcanceled is enabled (“Yes” branch, block 1044), then the question iscanceled. If an earcon is to be played to verify the cancellation (“Yes”branch, block 1046) then the appropriate earcon is played at block 1048and a ‘cancel’ value is returned to the application to indicate thecancellation. If an earcon is not to be played upon cancellation (“No”branch, block 1046, then ‘cancel’ is returned at block 1050 withoutplaying an earcon.

If the cancel option is not enabled (“No” branch, block 1044), then thesystem does not respond to the “cancel” command. If after apre-determined timeout period elapses without receiving a response fromthe user (“Yes” branch, block 1026), the ‘cancel’ is returned to theapplication at block 1050. ‘Cancel’ is returned after an earcon isplayed (block 1048) if a cancel earcon is enabled (“Yes” branch, block1044). Otherwise (“No” branch, block 1048), ‘cancel’ is returned withoutfirst playing a cancel earcon. (Note that there is not a “No” branch toblock 1026; this is due to the fact that if a response is returned, theresponse will have been handled before a determination is made as towhether a response was received during the timeout period.) Otherimplementations may handle the process of the control differently.

Announcer Control

The announcer control 155 provides a developer an easy way to deliververbal feedback to users, including short notices and long passages oftext-to-speech. The announcer control 155 implements a simple mechanismfor playing pre-recorded speech or TTS text, and for giving a userstandardized control of such playback. Use of the announcer control 155significantly decreases the effort required by application developers tobuild a rich application user interface.

The following scenarios exemplify common applications of the announcercontrol 155.

READ E-MAIL: A user request that an electronic mail message be read. Thesystem begins TTS'ing the message. The user is able to pause, fastforward, rewind, etc.

INTERRUPTING ANNOUNCER: While a navigation application is asking “Fastor scenic route?” the user commands “Read e-mail.” The system begins toread the e-mail immediately.

INTERRUPTED ANNOUNCER: While the system is reading a news story via TTS,an automobile application asks “<ding> Your gas tank is close to empty.Do you want instructions to the nearest gas station?”

NOTIFICATION: E-mail arrives while a user is driving and the systemannounces, “<ding> E-mail has arrived.”

CONVERSATION STATEMENT: A user answers the last question to specify anavigation destination and the system announces, “Turn right at the nextintersection.”

REPEATED ANNOUNCEMENT: A navigation application announces, “<ding> Turnright at the next intersection.” But the user did not hear it. The usersays, “Repeat” and the system repeats the announcement.

The following features, or properties, may be available on the announcercontrol 155. Table 2 lists announcer control properties and types.Discussion follows. TABLE 2 Announcer Control Properties PROPERTY TYPEType Enumeration Interrupting Boolean ConversationID String Abort WhenInterrupted Boolean Earcon Mode Enumeration Announcement String CancelFeedback Boolean Post Delay Integer

TYPE PROPERTY: The announcer control 155 supports the Type property thatcan be used to determine the behavioral or content characteristics ofthe application/announcement. The Type property ultimately determinesthe properties used in defining the application's/announcement'sbehavior. The speech server 124 defines the Type property's validvalues.

INTERRUPTING PROPERTY: The Interrupting property determines whether theapplication/announcement will interrupt other interactions present inthe interaction list 168 of the interaction manager 160. If theInterrupting property value is True, an announcement interaction willimmediately interrupt any other interactions in the interaction list168. If the value is False, an announcement interaction will be placedat the end of the interaction list 168.

CONVERSATION ID PROPERTY: The Conversation ID property determineswhether the application/announcement will operate in the context of thenamed conversation. The Conversation ID property is a string associatedwith a control instance. The interaction queue uses the Conversation IDproperty o identify which interaction belongs with which conversation.

ABORT WHEN INTERRUPTED PROPERTY: The Abort When Interrupted propertydetermines whether the announcement will automatically self-destruct ifit is interrupted by another interaction. If the property value is True,then the announcement aborts when interrupted; if the value if False,the announcement does not abort.

EARCON MODE Property: The Earcon Mode property determines if theapplication will play an audio file when it is activated orre-activated. If the Earcon Mode property has a value of “Always” thedesignated audio file is always played upon activation or re-activation.If the value is “After Interruption” the audio file is only played onre-activation; not on activation. If the value is “Never” an audio fileis not played on activation or re-activation.

ANNOUNCEMENT PROPERTY: The Announcement property contains what isannounced when the control is started. If an Announcement Typeassociated with the Announcement property is “TTS,” then theAnnouncement property contains a string that is to be TTS'ed. If theAnnouncement Type is “Pre-recorded,” then the Announcement propertycontains a string designating a file to be announced, i.e., a file name.If the Announcement Type is “Combination,” then the Announcementproperty contains a TTS string and an audio file name.

CANCEL EARCON PROPERTY: The Cancel Earcon property determines if theannouncer control will play an audio file automatically when the useranswers “cancel” (or its equivalent). If the Cancel Earcon property isTrue, then an earcon is played upon canceling; otherwise, an earcon isnot played.

POST DELAY PROPERTY: The Post Delay property determines if theapplication will pause for a definable period of time after theannouncement has been completely delivered. This features gives a usersome time to issue a “repeat” or “rewind” command. It also provides fora natural pause between interactions. If the Post Delay property valueis True, then a post delay is provided when not in the context of aconversation. If the value is False, then a post delay is not provided.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram depicting an announcer control process. Atblock 1100, the announcer control is activated at some time other thanafter an interruption. If an earcon mode associated with the announcercontrol that may be set to “Always,” “Never,” or “After Interruption.”If the earcon mode is set to “Always” (“Always” branch, block 1102),then an earcon is played at block 1108, prior to an earcon being playedat block 1108. If the earcon mode is set to “Never” or “AfterInterruption” mode (“Never or After Interruption” branch, block 1102),then an earcon is not played before an announcement is played at block1108.

There may be a post delay after the announcement has completed (“Yes”branch, block 1112. If the user asks the system to repeat theannouncement during a post delay period (“Yes” branch, block 1114), thenthe announcement is replayed at block 1110. If the user does not ask thesystem to repeat the announcement during the post delay period (“No”branch, block 1114), then the process completes at block 1116.

A post delay may not be activated for the announcement control. If not(“No” branch, block 1112), then the process completes at block 1116immediately after the announcement is played at block 1110.

Activation of the announcement control may occur after an interruptionat block 1104. If an interruption occurs before the announcement controlis activated and the announcement control earcon mode is set to play anearcon “Always” or “After Interruption” (“Always or After Interruption”branch, block 1106), then an earcon is played at block 1108 to alert theuser that an announcement is forthcoming. The announcement is thenplayed at block 1110. If the earcon mode is set to “Never” (“Never”branch, block 1106), then the announcement is played at block 1110without playing an earcon at block 1108.

Thereafter, a post delay may be implemented (“Yes” branch, block 1112)wherein the user may ask the system to repeat the announcement (“Yes”branch, block 1114), in which case the announcement is repeated at block1110. If a post delay is not implemented (“No” branch, block 1112), orif no response is received during a post delay period (“No” branch,block 1114), then the process concludes at block 1106.

Command Control

The command control 156 is designed to easily attach command-and-controlgrammar to an application. The command control 156 is used foruser-initiated speech. At a minimum, the command control 156 mustperform two functions. First, the command control 156 must provide a wayfor an application to specify what grammar(s) the application isinterested in listening to. Second, the command control 156 mustcommunicate back to the application that a recognition has occurred. Toaccomplish these tasks, the command control 156 is made up of fourobjects.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a command control 1200 similar to thecommand control 156 shown in FIG. 1. The command control 1200 includes acommand manager object 1202, a grammar object 1204, a rule object 1206and a recognition object 1208. For purposes of further discussion, thecommand control 1200 is assumed to be an ActiveX control that conformsto ActiveX standards promulgated by Microsoft Corporation.

Each of the four objects 1202-1208 includes an interface: the commandmanager object interface 1210, the grammar object interface 1212, therule object interface 1214 and the recognition object interface 1216.The interfaces 1210-1216 of each object 1202-1208 will be discussedseparately in greater detail.

The command manager object interface 1210 has three properties:Persistence ID 1220; Grammar ID 1222; and Grammar 1224. The PersistenceID 1220 is used to identify the application for persistence purposes.The Persistence ID 1220 must be unique in the system. The Persistence ID1220 may be blank if the associated grammar is not persistent. In oneimplementation, the Persistence ID 1220 is a ProgID (Microsoft WINDOWSimplementation).

The Grammar ID 1222 is an identifier that is used by with interactions170-176 submitted to the interaction manager 160. As previouslyexplained, the Grammar ID 1222 is utilized to avoid latency problemsinherent in the speech system 102. The Grammar 1224 property is apointer to the Grammar Object 1204 that is associated with the CommandControl 1200.

The command manager object interface also includes several methods:Create Grammar 1226, Persist 1228, Remove Grammar 1230, Start 1232 andEvent: Recognition 1234. Create Grammar 1226 is a function that is usedto create a new grammar object from a grammar file. A grammar file maybe an XML (extended markup language) file or a compiled grammar file(.cfg) or NULL, indicating that a new grammar is to be built. Parametersfor Create Grammar 1226 include a path of a file to be opened or NULLfor a new grammar (file), a value that indicates whether a grammar isstatic or dynamic (Load Options), a value that indicates whether agrammar is yielding or global (Context Options), and a pointer thatreceives the grammar object (ppGrammar).

Persist 1228 is a method that indicates that a grammar is to bepersisted. Persisted grammars recognize even if the application withwhich they are associated are not running. If a recognition occurs, theapplication is launched. Persist 1228 includes two parameters: thegrammar under which the ID should be persisted (Persistence ID); and acomplete path for an executable that will handle grammar recognitions(Application Path).

Remove Grammar 1230 is a method that removes a grammar from the speechserver 124. If the grammar is persistent, Remove Grammar 1230un-persists the grammar. Start 1232 is a method that is called to letthe speech server 124 know that an application is ready to starthandling events. Event: Recognition is a method that is called by thespeech server 124 when a speech recognition occurs so that anappropriate application may be so notified.

A specific implementation of the command manager object interface 1210is shown below. The implementation is specific to the WINDOWS family ofoperating systems by Microsoft Corp. Other interfaces may be added tomake the command control and ActiveX control (provided by the ATLwizard) so that a developer can simply drop the control on a form andproceed. interface ICommandManager : IUnknown, IDispatch { Properties :  BSTR PersistenceID; (get/put)   DWORD GrammarID; (get only)  IDispatch* Grammar; (get only) Methods : CreateGrammar (BSTR File,SPEECH_LOAD_OPTIONS  LoadOptions, SPEECH_CONTEXT_OPTIONS ContextOptions, IDispatch** ppGrammar)   HRESULT Persist (BSTRPersistenceID, BSTR    ApplicationPath)   HRESULT RemoveGrammar ( )  HRESULT Start( ): }; interface_ICommandManagerEvents: IDispatch //this  interface is the event that is sent back on recognition// {HRESULT Recognition(IDispatch * Recognition,  DWORD CountAlternates); }

The Grammar Object Interface 1212 has an Enabled property 1236, a Rulemethod 1238, a Create Rule method 1240, and a Commit method 1241. TheEnabled property 1242 is used to turn the entire grammar on or off. TheRule method 1248 selects a rule (by ID or name) and returns it to thecaller, The Rule method 1248 includes a RuleID parameter that is eithera numeric ID for the rule or a string for the rule name.

The Create Rule method 1240 creates a new rule in the grammar. TheCreate Rule method 1240 also utilizes the RuleID parameter, which is aname or numeric identifier of the rule to be created. Other parametersused in the Create Rule method 1240 include Rule Level, Rule State,ppRule and Prop. Rule Level is an enumeration determines whether therule is created as a top level rule or not. Rule State specifies whetherthe rule is to be created as dynamic. Dynamic rules can be modifiedafter they are committed. ppRule is the rule object that is created.Prop is an optional PropID or PropName that a developer wants toassociate with the rule.

The Commit method 1241 method commits all changes made in the grammarand all of the rules.

A specific implementation of the grammar object interface 1212 is shownbelow, As with the command manager object interface shown above, theimplementation is specific to the WINDOWS family of operating systems byMicrosoft Corp. interface IGrammar : IUnknown, IDispatch { Properties :  VARIANT_BOOL Enabled (get/put) Methods :   IDispatch * Rule(VARIANTRuleID) (get only)   HRESULT CreateRule ([in] VARIANT RuleID,   SPEECH_RULE_LEVEL RuleLevel, SPEECH_RULE_STATE    RuleState, [out,retval] IDispatch **ppRule, [in, optional]    VARIANT Prop)   HRESULTCommit( ); };

Rule Class Interface

The Rule Class interface 1214 includes an enabled 1242 property andseveral methods: Add Rule 1244, Add Phrase 1246, Add Alternate Rule 1248and Add Alternate Phrase 1250. Enabled 1242, when set, indicates whethera rule is active or inactive. Add Rule 1244 appends a rule to anexisting rule structure. For example, if the rule looks like“Rule→Phrase Rule1” and Rule2 is added, then a new structure results,“Rule→Phrase Rule1 Rule2”.

In the WINDOWS specific implementation shown below, Add Rule 1244includes two parameters, p/rule, which is a pointer to the rule objectthat will be added to the rule. Prop is an optional PROPID or PROPNAMEthat can be associated with the rule.

Add Phrase 1246 appends a phrase to an existing rule structure. In theimplementation shown below, the Add Phrase 124 method includesparameters text and val. Text is the text that is to be added. Val is anoptional val or valstr that may be associated with the phrase. For thisto be set, the rule must have been created with a property.

Add Alternate Rule 1248 places a new rule as an optional path for theprevious rule structure. For example, if the structure is “Rule→PhraseRule1” and then add alternative rule2 results in the new structure“Rule→(Phrase Rule1) |Rule2. Concatenation takes precedence over the‘or’ operator. Add Alternate Rule 1248 includes two parameters in theWINDOWS implementation shown below. plrule is a pointer to the ruleobject that will be added to the rule. prop is an optional PROPID orPROPNAME that may be associated with the rule.

Add Alternate Phrase 1250 places a new string as an optional path forthe previous rule structure. If the structure is “Rule→(Phrase Rule1)”and alternative phrase Phrase2 is added, the new structure is“Rule→(Phrase Rul1)|Rule2. Concatenation takes precedence over the ‘or’operator. In the WINDOWS implementation shown below, Add AlternatePhrase 1250 includes two parameters. Text is the text to be added. Valis an optional VAL or VALSTR that is to be associated with the phrase.The rule must have been created with a property for this to be set.

A specific implementation of the Rule Object interface 1214 is shownbelow. As with the other interfaces shown above, the implementation isspecific to the WINDOWS family of operating systems by Microsoft Corp.interface IRule : IUnknown, IDispatch { Properties :   VARIANT_BOOLEnabled (put only) Methods :   HRESULT AddRule ([in] IDispatch *piRule,[optional, in]    VARIANT Prop)   HRESULT AddPhrase ([in] BSTR Text,[optional, in] VARIANT    Val)   HRESULT AddAlternative Rule ([in]IDispatch *pIRule, [optional,1    in] VARIANT Prop)   HRESULTAddAlternativePhrase ([in] BSTR Text, [optional, in]    VARIANT Val) };

EXAMPLE

The Rule Object interface 1214 is designed for building grammars in aBNF (Backus-Naur Format) format. The rule is composed of a Startcomponent that is constructed of either rules or phrases. The Startcomponent corresponds to a top-level rule. For example:

S→AB|C

A→“I like”

B→“Candy”|“Food”

C→“Orange is a great color”

There are four rules here (S, A, B, C). There are four phrases: “Ilike”; “Candy”; “Food”; and “Orange is a great color.” This grammarallows three phrases to be said by the user “I like candy,” “I likefood,” or “Orange is a great color.” To construct this, assume fourrules have been created by a grammar object and then build the rules.

S.AddRule (A)

S.AddRule (B)

S.AddAlternativeRule (C)

A.AddPhrase (“I like”)

B.AddPhrase(“Candy”)

B.AddAlternativePhrase (“Food”)

C.AddPhrase (“Orange is a great color.”

Word Trainer Control

The word trainer control 158 provides an easy way to implement aspeech-oriented work-training interaction with a user, in support oftasks that involve voice tags, such as speed-dial entries or radiostation names. The entire word training process is implemented with acombination of the word trainer control and other GUI (graphical userinterface) or SUI (speech user interface) controls. The word trainerprimarily focuses on the process of adding the user's way of saying aphrase or verbally referencing an object in the recognizer's lexicon.

It is noted that the Word Trainer control 158 wraps the word trainer API(application programming interface) provided by MICROSOFT CORP. Thefeatures discussed below are available on the word trainer control 158.

An example of a functional scenario for the word trainer control is auser initiating voice tag training to complete creating a speed-dialentry for “Mom.” The system prompts the user to say the name of thecalled party. The user responds, “Mom.” Training is then complete.

Another example of a functional scenario for the word trainer control isa user who wants to place a call via voice command, but cannot rememberthe voice tag that was previously trained. The system helps the userusing a question control: “Choose who you'd like to call by repeatingthe name. <Mom.wav>, <Dad.wav> or <work.wav>.

The following Tables (Tables 3-5) illustrate possible word trainingsessions that are supported by the word training control 158. TABLE 3Scenario “A” WHO WHAT DETAIL System Prompt “Say name twice; Please sayname” System Earcon Signals user to start utterance System AutoPTT Letsuser talk w/o manual PTT User Utterance Says “Mom” System Feedback Plays<Mom.wav> System Prompt “Please say the name again” System EarconSignals user to start utterance System AutoPTT Lets user talk w/o manualPTT User Utterance Says “Mom” System Feedback Plays <Mom.wav> SystemQuestion “OK to continue?” System Announcement “You can now dial bysaying <Mom.wav>

TABLE 4 Scenario “B” WHO WHAT DETAIL System Prompt “Please say name”User PTT User pushes PTT System Earcon Signals PTT pushed, ready torecord User Utterance Says “Mom” System Earcon Signals recordingsuccessful

TABLE 5 Scenario “C” WHO WHAT DETAIL System GUI Dialogue Includesbuttons for two training passes User Pushes #1 Starts training pass #1System Earcon Signals PTT; Ready to record System AutoPTT Lets user talkw/o manual PTT User Utterance Says “Mom” System Feedback Plays .wav of“Mom” System Disables #1 Shows that pass #1 remains User Pushes #1Starts training pass #2 System Earcon Signals PTT; Ready to recordSystem AutoPTT Lets user talk w/o manual PTT User Utterance Says “Mom”System Feedback Plays .wav of “Mom” System Disables #2 Shows that pass#2 remains System GUI Dialogue “Voice tag created”

Word Trainer is a control, such as an ActiveX control, that a developercan include in an application for the purpose of initiating and managinga training user interface process. All of the interfaces exposed by theWord Trainer API (MICROSOFT CORP.)

Table 6 identifies word trainer control 158 properties. It is noted thatthese properties are in addition to Word Trainer API (MICROSOFT CORP.)properties and methods wrapped by the word trainer control 158. TABLE 6Word Trainer Control Properties PROPERTY TYPE Type EnumerationInterrupting Boolean Feedback Enumeration PassesRemaining Integer

The word trainer control 158 supports the Type property that can be usedto determine the behavioral or content characteristics of the control.It is noted that it is the Type property that ultimately determines thestyle class and properties used in defining the control's behavior. TheType property's valid values are defined in the system's current speechtheme.

The Interrupting property determines whether the control will interruptother interactions in the interaction list 168 of the interactionmanager 160. If the Interrupting property has a value of “True,” thenthe control immediately interrupts any other interaction in theinteraction list 168. If the value is “False,” then the control does notinterrupt, but places interactions at the end of the interaction list168.

The Feedback property determines if the word trainer control 158 willplay feedback automatically after the system successfully records theuser. If the Feedback property has no value (or a value of ‘none’), thenthe word trainer control 158 doesn't play feedback when the user makes achoice. If the Feedback property has a value of “Earcon,” then the wordtrainer control 158 plays a completion earcon resource after asuccessful recording. If the value is “Echo recording,” then the wordtrainer control 158 plays a sound file of the user's recording.

The PassesRemaining property is a read-only property that tells anapplication how many recording passes the engine requires before ausable voice tag exists. It is intended that as this number decrements,the application user interface reflects course progress through thetraining process.

In addition to the foregoing, the word trainer control 158 includes aStartRecording method. The StartRecording method initiates the recordingprocess for one pass. When recording completes successfully, thePassesRemaining property decrements. It is noted that, in the caseswhere the speech engine can accept additional recordings, an applicationmay call StartRecording even though PassesRemaining equals zero.

It is noted that other speech recognition grammars must be temporarilydisabled when the speech engine is in a recording mode.

Exemplary Computer Environment

The various components and functionality described herein areimplemented with a number of individual computers. FIG. 9 showscomponents of typical example of such a computer, referred by toreference numeral 900. The components shown in FIG. 9 are only examples,and are not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of thefunctionality of the invention; the invention is not necessarilydependent on the features shown in FIG. 9.

Generally, various different general purpose or special purposecomputing system configurations can be used. Examples of well knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to,personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes,programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, distributed computing environments that include any of theabove systems or devices, and the like.

The functionality of the computers is embodied in many cases bycomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, that areexecuted by the computers. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Tasksmight also be performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotecomputer storage media.

The instructions and/or program modules are stored at different times inthe various computer-readable media that are either part of the computeror that can be read by the computer. Programs are typically distributed,for example, on floppy disks, CD-ROMs, DVD, or some form ofcommunication media such as a modulated signal. From there, they areinstalled or loaded into the secondary memory of a computer. Atexecution, they are loaded at least partially into the computer'sprimary electronic memory. The invention described herein includes theseand other various types of computer-readable media when such mediacontain instructions programs, and/or modules for implementing the stepsdescribed below in conjunction with a microprocessor or other dataprocessors. The invention also includes the computer itself whenprogrammed according to the methods and techniques described below.

For purposes of illustration, programs and other executable programcomponents such as the operating system are illustrated herein asdiscrete blocks, although it is recognized that such programs andcomponents reside at various times in different storage components ofthe computer, and are executed by the data processor(s) of the computer.

With reference to FIG. 9, the components of computer 900 may include,but are not limited to, a processing unit 920, a system memory 930, anda system bus 921 that couples various system components including thesystem memory to the processing unit 920. The system bus 921 may be anyof several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety ofbus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, sucharchitectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISAA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus also known as the Mezzanine bus.

Computer 900 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media.Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computer 900 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. “Computer storage media” includes both volatileand nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by computer 910. Communication media typicallyembodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, programmodules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier waveor other transport mechanism and includes any information deliverymedia. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one ormore if its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The system memory 930 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 931and random access memory (RAM) 932. A basic input/output system 933(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 900, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 931. RAM 932 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 920. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 9 illustrates operating system 934, applicationprograms 935, other program modules 936, and program data 937.

The computer 900 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 9 illustrates a hard disk drive 941 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 951that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 952,and an optical disk drive 955 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 956 such as a CD ROM or other optical media.Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storagemedia that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include,but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards,digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solidstate ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 941 is typically connectedto the system bus 921 through an non-removable memory interface such asinterface 940, and magnetic disk drive 951 and optical disk drive 955are typically connected to the system bus 921 by a removable memoryinterface such as interface 950.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 9 provide storage of computer-readableinstructions, data is structures, program modules, and other data forcomputer 900. In FIG. 9, for example, hard disk drive 941 is illustratedas storing operating system 944, application programs 945, other programmodules 946, and program data 947. Note that these components can eitherbe the same as or different from operating system 934, applicationprograms 935, other program modules 936, and program data 937. Operatingsystem 944, application programs 945, other program modules 946, andprogram data 947 are given different numbers here to illustrate that, ata minimum, they are different copies. A user may enter commands andinformation into the computer 900 through input devices such as akeyboard 962 and pointing device 961, commonly referred to as a mouse,trackball, or touch pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit920 through a user input interface 960 that is coupled to the systembus, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such asa parallel port, game port, or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor991 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus921 via an interface, such as a video interface 990. In addition to themonitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices suchas speakers 997 and printer 996, which may be connected through anoutput peripheral interface 995.

The computer may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer980. The remote computer 980 may be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, andtypically includes many or all of the elements described above relativeto computer 900, although only a memory storage device 981 has beenillustrated in FIG. 9. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 9include a local area network (LAN) 971 and a wide area network (WAN)973, but may also include other networks. Such networking environmentsare commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks,intranets, and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 900 is connectedto the LAN 971 through a network interface or adapter 970. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer 900 typically includes amodem 972 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN973, such as the Internet. The modem 972, which may be internal orexternal, may be connected to the system bus 921 via the user inputinterface 960, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 900, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Byway of example, and not limitation, FIG. 9 illustrates remoteapplication programs 985 as residing on memory device 981. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused.

CONCLUSION

The systems and methods as described, thus provide a way to manageinteractions from multiple applications, even if two or more of themultiple applications use different grammars. Implementation of thesystems and methods described herein provide orderly processing ofinteractions from multiple applications so a user can more easilycommunicate with the applications.

Although details of specific implementations and embodiments aredescribed above, such details are intended to satisfy statutorydisclosure obligations rather than to limit the scope of the followingclaims. Thus, the invention as defined by the claims is not limited tothe specific features described above. Rather, the invention is claimedin any of its forms or modifications that fall within the proper scopeof the appended claims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with thedoctrine of equivalents.

1. A speech system, comprising: a speech server; an interaction managerconfigured to prioritize interactions submitted to the speech server byordering the interactions in an interaction list, the interaction listhaving a front and an end, wherein an interaction at the front of theinteraction list is processed before other interactions in theinteraction list are processed; wherein the interaction manager placesan interaction at the end of the interaction list unless the interactionmanager detects an indication to place the interaction at the front ofthe interaction list ahead of other interactions in the interactionlist; and wherein the speech server identifies a speech-enabledapplication associated with each interaction at the front of theinteraction list, and if the associated speech-enabled application isnot loaded, then the speech server loads the speech-enabled application.2. The speech system as recited in claim 1, wherein the interactionmanager places the interaction at the front of the list if theinteraction manager detects an interruption flag in the interaction. 3.The speech system as recited in claim 2, wherein the interaction managerinterrupts an interaction currently processing when the interaction isplaced at the front of the list, and the interrupted interaction resumesprocessing after the interrupting interaction is processed.
 4. Thespeech system as recited in claim 2, wherein the interaction managerinterrupts an interaction currently processing when the interaction isplaced at the front of the list, and the interrupted interaction doesnot resume processing after the interrupting interaction is processed.5. The speech system as recited in claim 2, wherein the interactionmanager does not interrupt an interaction currently processing when theinteraction is placed at the front of the list, but processes theinterrupting interaction after the currently processing interaction hascompleted processing if the currently processing interaction willconclude processing in less than a predetermined period of time.
 6. Thespeech system as recited in claim 2, wherein the interaction manageronly interrupts an interaction currently processing if the currentlyprocessing interaction will not conclude processing for more than apredetermined period of time.
 7. The speech system as recited in claim1, further comprising a speech engine that communicates with the speechserver through a speech application programming interface (API).
 8. Thespeech system as recited in claim 1, wherein the interaction managerprovides a grace period after processing a first interaction beforebeginning to process a second interaction.
 9. A method for processingspeech interactions associated with multiple speech-enabledapplications, comprising: receiving an interaction; determining if theinteraction is an interrupting interaction; placing the interaction inan interaction list having a front and a back and containing from one toseveral interactions to be processed in order from the front to theback, wherein the interaction is placed at the back of the interactionlist unless the interaction is an interrupting interaction, in whichcase the interaction is placed at the front of the interaction list;processing the interaction when it is at the front of the list,including identifying one of the speech-enabled applications associatedwith the interaction at the front of the list and if the speech-enabledapplication is not loaded, then loading the speech-enabled application.10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the interaction list is alist of pointers to memory locations that contain the interactionssubmitted to the interaction list.
 11. The method as recited in claim 9,wherein the determining if the interaction is an interruptinginteraction further comprises checking for the presence of aninterruption flag in the interaction that, if present, indicates thatthe interaction is an interrupting interaction.
 12. The method asrecited in claim 9, wherein the interaction is a first interaction andthe method further comprises waiting a predetermined grace period afterthe first interaction is processed before beginning processing of asecond interaction.
 13. The method as recited in claim 12, furthercomprising: receiving a third interaction during the grace period; andprocessing the third interaction prior to processing the secondinteraction.
 14. One or more computer-readable media containing computerexecutable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform thefollowing steps: maintaining an interaction list that includes multiplespeech interactions; identifying a front of the interaction list and aback of the interaction list, the interactions in the interaction listto be processed in order from front to back; processing a firstinteraction when the first interaction is located at the front of theinteraction list; receiving a second interaction from a secondspeech-enabled application; determining if the second interaction is aninterrupting interaction; if the second interaction is not aninterrupting interaction, placing the second interaction at the back ofthe interaction list; if the second interaction is an interruptinginteraction, placing the second interaction at the front of theinteraction list and processing the second interaction; and identifyinga speech-enabled application associated with each interaction at thefront of the interaction list, and if the associated speech-enabledapplication is not loaded, then loading the speech-enabled application.15. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14,wherein the first interaction is associated with a first grammar and thesecond interaction is associated with a second grammar.